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Monday, August 12, 2013

Make It

Baby Food Edition

Black Beans

Prep time: 3 hours
Yields: approximately 50 ounces

The first legume we introduced to the girls was black beans. Although simple, this method took forever. On the bright side, it did make enough beans to last us for pretty much forever. I don't think I'll ever need to make another batch. ...Seriously.

This process was so long and boring I didn't even take my own pictures. You'll just have to trust me on this...

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Sort beans - remove any rocks (seriously, the directions say this... I've never made dried beans from a package before so this seemed weird to me)

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Pre-soak beans according to package directions. Mine said to boil in two inches of water for two minutes. Then cover and let sit for one hour. Drain and rinse. Initially, I thought the beans were done after this step, but then I realized this was just the precursor to the actual cooking of the beans. Omg...

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Next, put beans in a pan with six cups of water and simmer for 1.5 - 2 hours. I simmered mine for the full two hours to ensure they were tender and easily mash-able by the food processor. Drain and pour into food processor (or blender, in my case).

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I ended up using my Ninja (blender) to puree the beans because my large food processor decided it was not going to work today. I added quite a bit of milk to fully incorporate the beans and to reach desired consistency.

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This is pretty much what it looked like in the end. I added quite a bit more milk so my puree is much smoother.

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Finally, I loaded up my OXO Tot baby blocks and froze most of the beans to be eaten at a later date, as my girls didn't quite take to the taste right away. After about a week, they're starting to prefer this a bit more.